"Persistent Faith" - Psalm 121; Luke 18:1-8
Persistent Faith
Psalm 121 / Luke 18:1-8
October 16, 2022
Kate Fiedler
I got my first taste of the excitement found in a courtroom in high school. Truth be told, it was not a real courtroom, but the school library. Mr. Peter Lustig taught History of the United States. Mr. Lustig was popular with the students; he made history matter and come alive for us. As we moved through the centuries, we were invited to bring historical figures to trial. Teams were selected to do the research for the defense and the prosecution, and all the remaining students who stayed after school served as the jury. We brought defendants like Christopher Columbus, Andrew Jackson, and John F. Kennedy to trial before our peers. Some trials went on for over three hours, as each side tried to defend their stance. Through these courtroom proceedings, I learned that history has different layers and different interpretations. Through his teaching, Mr. Lustig taught me to read between the lines and to look for patterns.
Our gospel story today includes courtroom excitement and has many layers and lessons beyond the parable Jesus shares with the disciples. This story is unique to Luke. It’s a story with a message about God, and lessons about God’s people too. Listen now, to this parable from Luke, chapter 18 from The Message:
Jesus told them a story showing that it was necessary for [the disciples] to pray consistently and never quit. He said, “There was once a judge in some city who never gave God a thought and cared nothing for people. A widow in that city kept after him: ‘My rights are being violated. Protect me!’
4-5 “He never gave her the time of day. But after this went on and on he said to himself, ‘I care nothing what God thinks, even less what people think. But because this widow won’t quit badgering me, I’d better do something and see that she gets justice—otherwise I’m going to end up beaten black-and-blue by her pounding.’”
6-8 Then the Master said, “Do you hear what that judge, corrupt as he is, is saying? So what makes you think God won’t step in and work justice for his chosen people, who continue to cry out for help? Won’t he stick up for them? I assure you, he will. He will not drag his feet. But how much of that kind of persistent faith will the Son of Man find on the earth when he returns?”
This is the Word of the Lord. Thanks be to God.
This short story is packed with meaning. Jesus creates clear characters in this parable. Some biblical scholars wonder if his first-century audience would have found the judge and widow humorous; they are both so over-the-top as Jesus describes them. Jesus knew the disciples would recognize someone in power who is corrupt and only cares about themselves. In contrast, there is the widow, lacking family, funds, and fairness in her life. She is so persistent in crying out for justice, the judge feels like he’s becoming bruised by her insistence. Jesus sets up this farce with familiar exaggerations, to point to God’s desire for justice and God’s steadfast presence. God is the foil to the judge in the story. Let me say that again—God is nothing like the judge here. God hears our prayers. God wants justice too. God will step in and show up with love and hope. God listens to those who are powerless, marginalized, and ignored.[1] Jesus teaches the disciples then and he teaches us today that God “will quickly grant justice” when we pray for God’s will to be done, here on earth as it is in heaven. God is steadfast and persistently seeking justice. Jesus is clear that God listens to everyone and lands on the side of justice, every time.
Yet, Jesus begins and ends this story with lessons about God’s people. Luke sets it up from the beginning: Jesus teaches them “about their need to pray always and not lose heart.” Jesus understands that not all prayers are answered as we hope God will answer them. He recognizes the labor of the long-suffering as he lifts up the persistent widow. Jesus questions whether “that kind of persistent faith” will be found when he returns. We may question whether we have the kind of persistent faith of the widow today. There are so many reasons to read the news and grow weary, to pray for our families and friends and wonder if God is really listening. So often it seems like we pray and wait, and wait, and wait. Fred Craddock writes, “All we know in the life of prayer is asking, seeking, knocking, and waiting, trusting sometimes fainting, sometimes growing angry. … In a large gathering of persons concerned about certain unfair and oppressive conditions in our society, an elderly black minister read this parable and gave a one-sentence interpretation: ‘Until you have stood for years knocking at a locked door, your knuckles bleeding, you do not really know what prayer is.’”[2] Jesus teaches us what prayer is, like the widow, like the elderly black minister, like he modeled in the garden and on the cross. Through this short story, Jesus encourages us to keep praying, to seek justice with persistence. Jesus teaches us that we are called to act with faith and hope to create God’s realm here and now. Through our persistent prayers, we ask, seek, knock, wait, and trust that God’s love and listening ear are present. Jesus calls us not to lose heart.
Samuel Wells is the vicar of St. Martin-in-the-Fields in London, and he shares a story about the persistent faith of a former parishioner. After hearing Wells speak on the radio, this man reached out and called Wells to confess. They had not seen or spoken to each other in over twenty years, but as soon as Rev. Wells heard the man’s voice, he knew who was on the other end of the line. Rev. Wells remembered the firefighter well; he had attended the church during the early days of his ministry. After briefly updating Wells on his family, the man focused on the reason for his call.
“Do you remember your first Easter at St. Luke’s?” [he asked.]
“Two weeks before Easter, at the Sunday service, you gave each one of us three nails. You said, ‘Put these somewhere where you’ll be close to them every day. And on Easter morning, bring them back with you and put them in the font and celebrate what those nails really mean.’”
“The truth is, I never brought the nails back.”
“When I took the nails home,” [the man] said, “I knew what I wanted to do. The next day, I took them to the fire station. I picked up my firefighter’s overalls and I sewed each one of them into its own pocket across my chest. And then I gave each one of them a name.
“The first one, the largest one, I called Faith. The second one, the rusty one, I called Courage. And the third one, the twisted, almost broken one, I called Hope. And from then on, for the next 20 years, every time the bell went and we jumped down the chute into the fire tender to go out on a job, I would put my hand on my chest. My hand would cover the pocket with the first nail, and I would say, ‘Be close to me, I need you with me.’ I would move across to the second nail and would say, ‘Give me the strength to do what I need to do today.’ And then I’d find the third, twisted, smaller nail, and I’d say, ‘Help me make it through to live another day.’
“I kept those three nails in my overalls until six years ago when I retired. And when I heard your voice on the radio, I thought it was time to tell you why I never brought them back that Easter Day.”[3]
Rev. Wells witnessed a confession and a statement of faith over the phone that day. The nails were passed out as a reminder of the passion of Christ, and they became steadfast prayers of faith, courage, and hope. Those nails were fastened by consistent prayer and grasped as rituals of remembrance. Each time he was called to duty, beckoned to face another fire, this man was grounded in the good news that God’s steadfast presence went with him. He could face the wilderness of his work with the presence, power, and love of God.
Beloved saints of Second, we can face the wilderness of our lives with the presence, power, and love of God as well. We do not have to carry our anxieties and suffering alone. We do not have to bear the weight of the world’s grief on our shoulders. The Good News in the scriptures today is that corruption and injustice do not have the final word. God’s steadfast presence and hope for justice reminds us that we place our trust in God’s faithfulness, not our own. Psalm 121 reminds us that our,
“help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth. The Lord will keep you from all evil; he will keep your life. The Lord will keep your going out and your coming in from this time on and forevermore.”
This is good news, and yet we do not have to rush to the glory of the good news to find God. God is present in the heaviness, the waiting, and the grief. God is present after the frightening diagnosis and the rush to surgery. God is present in the questions and the unknown. God is there in the parent’s embrace after the tragic shooting. God is present with us, always. So we lift up our prayers, and we lift up our hearts. We listen for God to guide us in the hoping and in the waiting. And even in the waiting, we don’t lose heart, because nothing, nothing can separate us from God’s persistent love.
Thanks be to God. Amen.
[1] “Luke 18:1-8: Homiletical Perspective.” John M. Buchanan. Feasting on the Word. Year C, Volume 4. Ed. David L. Bartlett and Barbara Brown Taylor. Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2010. 193.
[2] Craddock, Fred. Luke. Interpretation. Louisville: John Knox Press, 1990. 210.
[3] Wells, Samuel. “A confession about three nails,” The Christian Century. February 16, 2018. https://www.christiancentury.org/article/faith-matters/confession-about-three-nails